Nine

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Fergie
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Musical, Romance
2009

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A brilliant Italian director (Daniel Day-Lewis) struggles to stay focused and make progress on his new movie, as he has problems with his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), and his muse (Nicole Kidman).

Review:

Tim: I did not enjoy Rob Marshall's last musical, the Academy Award winning Chicago, so I was not too excited about this film. I didn't know much about the original play, but from everything I saw about this movie, it just didn't look very good. Still, I went into it hoping for the best. While the movie features some good performances, I have to say that the script and Rob Marshall's messy direction ruin this movie. I didn't like this film much at all. While I certainly appreciated some of the cinematography and dance numbers, the entertainment factor is extremely low.

I wasn't a huge fan of the story. There really are no likeable characters in this film. The lead role, Guido Contini is an incredibly unlikeable guy whose list of character flaws is immense. The rest of the characters feature very few likeable ones. This hurts the movie immensely, as I found it impossible to care about any of the characters or the struggles they have on screen. Nothing in this movie even approached an emotional level for me. This is a massive failure.

The cast is impressive, especially when you look at the list of Academy Award wins and nominations between them. However, even a great actor or actress needs good material to work with, and the lack of that hurts the cast. Daniel Day-Lewis is a fantastic actor, and I believed I would love him in anything. I did not care for him here. He certainly puts effort into the role, but his performance is heartless and boring. I thought he was bland and did not entertain me in the least. This was a big misstep for him, in my eyes.

Marion Cotillard actually gives one of the best performances of the film. She has the most screen time of the actresses, and she uses this time wisely. I am still not completely sold on Cotillard, but her performance here helped. Penelope Cruz is quite good as well, but I don't think she had enough screen time to really make the necessary impact on this film. Now, she uses her time wisely, as she sparkles on screen and gives a charismatic, memorable performance. She truly is a talented actress. However, I am still surprised she received an Academy Award nomination for the role. She was good, but I am not sure she was good enough.

Sophia Loren's presence was welcome, but I barely noticed her in this film. Nicole Kidman was completely wasted in a silly, throwaway role. I liked her, but she needed much more to her character. I felt like this was a huge waste of talent, and another example of how Marshall messed this movie up. Judi Dench was fine- she's such a good actress, she can work well in any film. I also enjoyed Kate Hudson, who has one of the best musical numbers. Still, I wish she had more screen time.

Nine is an ambitious effort, and it does indeed have some impressive musical numbers and dance sequences. If you look purely at that, you might like the movie. However, if you believe things like character and story matter, you will more than likely be disappointed. This is a movie that assembled impressive talet, but resulted in a soulless, boring movie. It certainly has a lot of shine and glamor, but underneath, Nine is sorely lacking.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Chicago, Moulin Rouge, La vie en rose,